


always will be

by JaneBuzJane



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Cherry in Joe's clothes, Coming In Pants, Ear Piercings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Grinding, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Making Out, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, Over the clothes sex, Pining, Set after Ep. 9, Tags Contain Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:15:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29915397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneBuzJane/pseuds/JaneBuzJane
Summary: Set directly after Episode 9. Spoilers ahead.It's two glasses of wine, undrunk.It's the way he looks with his hair pulled up.It's how Kojiro carries him up the stairs and over the threshold.
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 28
Kudos: 291





	always will be

**Author's Note:**

> Soft. Softe. Married but without rings. :3c 
> 
> Note: **Spoilers for SK8 Episode 9 ahead!!** Also, I know that Kaoru doesn't actually have piercings in for Episode 9, but I took liberties.

It was around midnight when Kojiro woke Kaoru, jostling his uninjured arm softly. 

"Wake up, princess," he murmured, purely so Kaoru could drowsily protest _long hair doesn't mean I'm a princess, Kojiro, for the nth time,_ as he always did.

"But you have a throne," Kojiro cooed, and the implicit threat to Carla woke Kaoru faster than Kojiro ever could. 

"Hardly," Kaoru said. "Thrones don't have wheels." He took his glasses off with one hand and rubbed the mark they'd made on the bridge of his nose. 

Kojiro's heart thumped, and he turned away. 

"Carla, what time is it?" Kaoru asked.

Kojiro hung his apron next to the stove and switched off the kitchen lights as Carla promptly answered, and Kaoru uttered an oath. The trains had already shut down for the night. 

Kaoru glared at Kojiro, squinting a bit in the dimly lit glow of the dining room's lighting. "You should have woken me earlier," he grumbled. 

Kojiro shrugged. "I don't keep track of the time when I'm closing up, you know that. Keep off the pain meds and maybe you'll remember." He grinned, ignoring Kaoru's growl of irritation. 

Kaoru didn't respond, only replaced his glasses, and the silence between them hung gently in the stillness of the restaurant. The stools and chairs had been placed on the tables, the floor mopped. The only thing left was to lock the door.

"So... you gonna roll on home?" Kojiro ventured. "Or should I call the hospital to come and get you?" 

"You will not," Kaoru snapped. He looked down at the table. "I wouldn't trust Carla's battery," he said after a long moment. "This configuration was rushed, and I didn't have time to install a proper power pack." 

"All you were doing was laying in _bed._ You had nothing but time!" 

"Kojiro." Kaoru said stiffly. 

Kojiro abruptly felt as if he'd crossed a line. All at once it rushed back to him, as if a dam had been broken: Cherry's broken arm. Fractured collarbone. Broken ankle. A host of other injuries, and bruises spreading thick and purple up his ribs. 

It couldn't be easy for his pride. 

"Yeah," Kojiro muttered. "Yeah. Wanna stay here for the night?" 

"I graciously accept your hospitality, though it seems to well up like the faintest burble of a spring after a drought," Kaoru said, with a tilt of his head. 

Kojiro rolled his eyes, despite his heartbeat kicking up a notch. "I still didn't get around to getting that spare futon, so we'll have to share my bed," he warned Kaoru, then balked. "Uh. Does she go up the stairs?" 

Kaoru glanced down at Carla. "She does not. And I cannot presently bear weight on my left ankle." He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together tightly. "I would expect you to be aware of the extent of my injuries, given that you - _eulp!_ " 

Kaoru let out an unattractive noise as Kojiro lifted him into his arms. "Carla. Uh. Skateboard configuration." 

The lights on the wheelchair flashed red. "Command not recognized." 

Kaoru pinched Kojiro's nipple with his uninjured hand, and Kojiro yelped. "Do you _want_ me to drop you? What the hell?" 

"She's not the longboard," Kaoru said. "That command won't work. And quit messing around." 

"Fine," Kojiro said, grumpily. "I'll plug her in later, then." 

Kaoru huffed slightly but said nothing, and as Kojiro carried him up the stairs, he began to fidget, becoming twitchy in a way Kojiro hadn't seen since high school, before they found skating. He wound his hair around a finger, yanking on it, and tongued at a lip ring that no longer existed. 

Kojiro decided to ignore it, instead savoring the fact that he was able to carry Kaoru across the threshold to his bedroom, something that he'd only ever fantasised about, and only when he was drunk enough not explain it away. 

"And why _don't_ you have a spare futon?" Kaoru asked suddenly, as Kojiro set him down on the large, Western-style bed that dominated the room. "It's a common item to have in one's home. Not that you'd know that, you mannerless oaf." 

"Most people don't come up here to sleep alone," Kojiro said with a chuckle.

Kaoru turned his nose up, but it didn't hide his blush or the nervous tic in his jaw. "How needlessly crass." 

"Do you want a change of clothes?" Kojiro asked. "I've got a spare set of pajamas, and they're even clean." 

Kaoru hesitated before nodding. "If you have a shirt with buttons, that would be appreciated," he said. "I cannot lift my arm very well." 

Kojiro felt as if a bucket of water had been dumped on his head. He blanched. "Right. Be right back." 

It only took him a moment for him to grab the pajamas, and as Kaoru was changing, he went back downstairs to plug in Carla and lock the door. The street outside was misty, and Kojiro gently thumped his head against the glass with a sigh. 

He had Kaoru in his bed, but never had he imagined the circumstances.

"Kojiro." Kaoru's voice floated down the stairs. "Did you get lost down there?" 

"You wish!" Kojiro called back. His gusto sounded false, even to his own ears. Wincing, he rolled down the blinds and traipsed back upstairs.

Kaoru had managed to clothe himself, even buttoning the pajama shirt over his injured arm. It was huge on Kaoru's trim frame, in a shade of green that suited him nicely, and Kojiro felt himself gawp enough at the sight that he knew he had to play it off. 

"Hey, good-lookin'. Come here often?" 

Kaoru threw his zori at Kojiro, who dodged, laughing. 

"I take the left side," Kojiro said, as Kaoru lifted his busted ankle into the bed. 

"You always have," Kaoru said. "At least, you did when we were younger." 

"Younger and dumber," Kojiro said bluntly. _Before we knew Adam,_ Kojiro thought to himself, but didn't say it.

Both of them were quiet as they settled into bed. Kojiro turned off the lights and slid beneath the covers, but found himself unable to relax. Kaoru was almost supernaturally still beside him, and his breathing was uneven enough in the quiet that Kojiro knew he wasn't asleep. 

"Kaoru?" he whispered. "Do you need anything?"

"I do not." Kaoru's voice was sharp. "Goodnight, Kojiro." 

Kojiro grimaced. He rolled over and punched the pillow into shape before settling down again, prompting a hiss from Kaoru's side of the bed, and somehow, fell asleep.

  


* * *

  


Kojiro didn't know how long he'd been out when a dry sob woke him up.

"Kaoru?" The name flew to his lips, though his conscious brain had yet to follow. "Is everything alright?" 

The bed shifted, and Kojiro could see the vague outline of Kaoru hunched over in the dark, his back turned towards Kojiro. 

"Fine, it's fine," Kaoru said, his voice thick. "Go back to sleep." 

"It's a problem when someone's crying in my bed," Kojiro said without thinking. "Do you need some painkillers?" 

Kaoru shuddered. "No. I'm fine. Leave me alone." 

"Not gonna do that," Kojiro said. He scooted closer, warily waiting for Kaoru to move away, and then placed a hand on his back. 

Kaoru flinched, then curled up, stifling a sob. 

"Hey, come on," Kojiro said, yanking his hand away. "Don't do that. You'll hurt your collarbo-" 

"To hell with my collarbone!" Kaoru snapped. "To hell with a broken arm, a foot that doesn't work, and the weak spirit that landed me in this situation to begin with!" 

He buried his face in his hand as his shoulders shook. Kojiro ached to hold him.

"Don't watch," Kaoru said, as if he could sense Kojiro's gaze. His voice was raw with suppressed tears. "Go somewhere else." 

Kojiro bit his tongue before he asked, as gently as he knew how, "Did you have a nightmare?" 

Kaoru sniffed. He nodded. 

"Come here." Kojiro tapped Kaoru's shoulder, urging him to turn back. 

Kaoru kept his hand over his face as he rolled into Kojiro's embrace, weeping silently. 

He'd never seen Kaoru cry before. Shout: yes. Throw a punch: yes. Sneer privately at Kojiro's latest date: more often than not. But never had Kaoru been red-faced and bandaged in his arms, his hair tangled and messy, unable to walk or lift his other arm to dry his tears because a friend they'd once shared, trusted, and loved had attempted to end his skating career permanently.

Kojiri held Kaoru close, sweeping his hand up and down his back in a soothing motion, as Kaoru grieved. 

When his tears ran dry, he wiped his face on Kojiro's t-shirt, earning a groan from Kojiro as the snotty fabric stuck to his skin. "Gross, Kaoru," he muttered. "I'm only gonna let that slide this one time." 

"Naturally." Kaoru's voice was hoarse. He didn't look up. 

They laid there in silence for a while. Kojiro was thinking about breaking the ice when Kaoru spoke. 

"I don't know what I would do if you left." 

Kojiro blinked, staring into the darkness. 

"Where would I go?" 

It was an honest question, but it seemed to be enough for Kaoru, who cupped his hand around Kojiro's neck and brought him down for a clumsy kiss. 

Kaoru tasted of salt from his tears, but his mouth was sweet and wet, his sharp tongue nowhere to be found. Kojiro kissed him back, holding him carefully, his heart in his throat. 

Kaoru kissed like he skated, with a hint of the wildness from their high school days. He was precise in his movements, using moves at a pace that made Kojiro's head spin, but Kojiro coaxed him into something slower, more heated. 

When Kaoru brought the knee of his good leg up to rest between Kojiro's thighs, he groaned, cupping the back of Kaoru's neck and shifting his hips against it. He was rewarded with a tremulous intake of breath against his lips before Kaoru surged against him, grinding his knee up in a rhythm that Kojiro matched until he came, spilling in his underwear with his heart racing in his chest. 

Kojiro rested his forehead against Kaoru's, panting softly, before kissing his cheeks, his nose, and his cheeks again, just to feel the heat of Kaoru's blush against his lips.

He covered the front of Kaoru's pajama bottoms with his palm, wanting to reciprocate, but Kaoru shook his head. 

Kojiro understood, even if he didn't approve of Kaoru's self-imposed punishment for his lack of control.

They could work on that, maybe. 

"Will you take my earrings out?" Kaoru's voice was soft. "Before we go back to sleep? It's difficult to rest with them in." 

Kojiro raised an eyebrow. "You don't skate with your piercings in." 

"A finer eye for detail than I would have thought from you," Kaoru said, flicking him in the chest. "I... put them in for the tournament. For old time's sake." He didn't meet Kojiro's gaze. 

"Sure." Kojiro said. _Anything for you._

They sat up, and he brushed Kaoru's hair over his shoulder to get a closer look. He had three holes in the lobe of each ear, which was less than he'd had in their high school days, but Kojiro fumbled with them nonetheless, far more used to handling pepper grinders nowadays than tiny earring backs. 

It felt incredibly indulgent to be touching such a soft part of Kaoru, who went to such lengths to present himself without flaws or vulnerability. This close, Kojiro could smell the soft, warm scent of him; could see the small indents placed higher on the shell of his ear, where he'd had an industrial piercing for all of a week before taking it out. He'd told Adam that it had wreaked havoc with his air resistance, but Kojiro knew the truth: he'd been the one to take it out for him, after all, running his mouth to take Kaoru's mind off of the rejected piercing while Kaoru had shouted insults at him without stopping for a breath.

He set the earrings on his nightstand. Kaoru watched them go, gnawing at his lip again, and without thinking, Kojiro brushed his thumb over Kaoru's lip. 

"Sleep," he said. "If you've had those in since the beef, no wonder you fell asleep at dinner." 

Kaoru nodded, and they both lay back, settling against each other in a position that felt so natural Kojiro decided then and there that it was the most restful night he'd had in ages.

  


* * *

  


"Kojiro. _Kojiro._ " 

Kojiro barely surfaced from sleep, curling around the soft body in his bed. "Mm." 

" _Ack_ \- Kojiro, my arm!" 

"Oh," Kojiro said heavily, springing back. "Shit. 'M sorry." 

Kaoru sat up slowly, inspecting his bandages before nodding. "It's alright. No harm done." 

He was gorgeous in the morning light, Kojiro thought, with the too-large shirt slipping off of his shoulders and his pink hair casting him in a soft aura. He looked like a god, or a nymph. Something otherworldly and fleeting. 

"You know you can't leave me either," Kojiro said. 

Kaoru glanced back at him, settling his glasses on the bridge of his nose. The look he gave Kojiro was full of affection, without the sharp smirk that usually accompanied it. 

"Yes," he mused. "You know, I don't think I will." They regarded each other silently, Kojiro's grin growing wide, before Kaoru turned around and shrugged off Kojiro's shirt. 

Kojiro's mouth went dry. 

"Tell me, Kojiro. Do you know how to braid hair?"

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: [@JaneBuzJane](https://twitter.com/JaneBuzJane)
> 
> Comments fuel me!


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